Mideast Manipulators Destroying Democracy

When it comes to democracy,the only kind of free and fairelections the West backs arethose guaranteed to sidewith the United States andIsrael. This explains why Egypt’s newest dictator,recently retired Army Chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, knows there is no one standing inthe way of his military court sentencing todeath 700 of his regime’s opponents. He isconfident he has the backing of PresidentBarack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu, the Saudi royals andBritish Prime Minister David Cameron.

El-Sisi, who plotted and managed theoverthrow of former university professor Dr. Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, the country’s first democratically electedpresident, is positioned to win the presidency of thecountry in planned elections that will undoubtedlybe held against a backdrop of military oppression.

Criticism of the military, which suspended Egypt’sconstitution and kicked out a government dominatedby Muslims in July 2013, after a one-year democraticexperiment, has been sparse. In contrast, there havebeen calls in Washington, London, Tel Aviv andRiyadh to give el-Sisi and his generals all the moral,military and financial support they need to crushtheir opponents.

In Washington, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) hasbeen a lone voice in calling for the U.S. to suspend financial and military aid to the Egyptian governmentwhile it behaves in a fashion that is more akin to atotalitarian state. But Leahy’s position stands in sharpcontrast to the fact that Washington has given Egypt$100 billion in the form of foreign assistance and militaryaid since the 1980s, because it has been Israel’sfavorite dictatorship in the region.

The bottom line is Israel has never wanted a Muslimdemocracy on its borders, preferring instead todeal with thugs, like el-Sisi, who can be bribed andcontrolled by Washington. The Saudis feel likewise,fearing democracy could jeopardize their kingdomthat allegedly gave us the 9-11 hijackers and has beensponsoring terrorists ever since then.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil Famhy recently pointed out there should be no reluctance on Washington’s part to withhold financial aid to his country or to deny it a gift of Apache attack helicopters becauseEgypt had upheld its 35-year peace deal withIsrael.

In the wake of the removal of Morsi after he had been Egypt’s president for a mere 12 months, the Egyptian generals, with support from Israel and the Saudis, began a vicious campaign to crush the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt where it was founded and from where its power base reached out to the region. Israel moved quickly to influence Washington on the matter. According to Israeli writer Yossi Melman, within six weeks of Morsi’s overthrow and arrest:

“Israel has been secretly maneuvering via friendly nations, deploying heavy diplomatic leverage to stop Western governments, first and foremost the United States, from denouncing the overthrow by the Egyptian security forces, deterring them from calling it a ‘massacre.’”

Melman also claimed Israel persuaded its allies inthe West not to call the murder of 1,700 civilians in2013 by the Egyptian military a massacre.

With the help of Washington, and the Westernmainstream media, Israel has effectively demonizedthe Muslim Brotherhood in the same way it demonizedthe Palestinian group Hamas. As a result,Obama and other Western leaders have been reluctant to condemn the Egyptian military’s viciouscrackdown on the Brotherhood, preferring to acceptthe Israeli-Saudi claim that the Brotherhood is a terroristorganization.

From the moment the Brotherhood becamethe dominant political power in Egypt,following the overthrow of Egyptian dictatorHosni Mubarak, the Saudis set about underminingit and wiping out any vestiges of the ArabSpring Obama had once heralded as a flowering ofdemocracy in the Arab world.

Well-known British journalist Patrick Cockburnhas described as “demented” claims by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair that the Brotherhood promoted intolerance. Cockburn suggestedBlair might have been better pointing a finger at theSaudi monarchy for its intolerance and support ofterrorism.

Commentators in Europe have attacked Blair’s successor, Cameron, for ordering an investigation of the Brotherhood at the behest of the Egyptian military.The purported aim of the investigation is to examineBrotherhood links to a terror attack in Egyptin February 2014. Some observers detected the cunning hand of the Saudis in Cameron’s decision since the person he appointed to lead the investigation wasSir John Jenkins, the British ambassador to SaudiArabia, who happened to be a friend of the Saudiroyal family.

Mass trials in Egypt are expected to continue with not only Muslim Brotherhood members sentenced todeath but also journalists and academics since many of them have been portrayed as enemies of the dictatorship.